Winter tire help
The next few lines provide the answers to some of the most common questions you might have related to winter tires. Here they are:
1. What is the most basic difference between regular all-season tires and the tires for the winter?
All-season tires are designed so that they can provide relatively safe performance during the whole year but are not the best choice when it comes to a lot of snow and ice on the roads. All-season tires are not made of a rubber compound which is suitable for cold weather and they also do not have channelling tread patterns and a lot of tread sipes which are small slits in the blocks of the tread that help the control of the car on wet surfaces. The tread block pattern on winter tires is also different and is designed for creating more traction when driving in deep snow. Sometimes, people get confused and think that all-season tires have the same functions as winter tires because the winter tires are not labelled properly to show the difference between these two.
2. Winter has come but there is no snow yet and there might not at all be any. Is there still a need to put on winter tires without any snow?
When it comes to dry pavements, the performance of all-season tires becomes worse when the temperatures drop to a certain critical value. 5 degrees Celsius can be called the crossover point. When it is colder than that winter tires perform a lot better than all-season tires in all aspects. The performance of winter tires becomes even better when the temperatures drop to -30 degrees Celsius. At such temperatures it is very dangerous to drive with all-season tires and it is sometimes even prohibited.
3. How does the special tread design of winter tires make them perform a lot better than all-season tires?
Winter tires usually come with tread designs which are unidirectional. Such unidirectional tires with V-shaped grooves can easily move water and slush out of the way and they are better for such purposes than any of the rest of the tread designs. When the tread design is more open the tires perform better against accumulations of snow. When the tread blocks are larger they provide better handling of the car in general. The same applies to the steering response as well as the transient response. The more the sipes are, the better winter tires perform of wet pavement. This, however, is not the same as anti-hydroplaning. There are some innovations nowadays that cause blocks to interlock during stopping, cornering and driving at high speeds. However, not a lot of tires have this advanced feature yet.
4. Only two tires on my car need to be replaced? Can I only buy two new ones at this time?
It is best to change all the four tires because this will ensure better control and handling of the car. Otherwise, you risk having handling problems.
When you’re looking to buy winter tires (in Norwegian we say kjøpe vinterdekk), visit this website, where you will find many good offers for car tires. To know even more about winter tires, read this article.
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